Three for Thursday – 41 Weeks Edition

Mom, Dad and the Boys

First picture above with a couple of the triplets together.  Bella is still in a separate room from the boys, but the boys had most of their tubes pulled out this week so we can stretch the remaining lines where we got them  close enough together.   I'm holding Owen and Nikki's holding Noah. 

We had such a great time just sitting them facing each other.  Noah gets so wide-eyed.  He was totally trying to figure out Owen.  He'd just bob his head up and down, doing his little neck stablization exercises and seemed totally enthused to have his brother by his side.  Yes, I know he probably doesn't realize that Owen's his brother, but who am I to ruin a good fantasy?

A cute story…I guess two nights ago, one of the nurses was giving Owen a bath, and as such, all of his lines and monitors get removed.  She took that opportunity to take him down into Bella's room and have him say Hi and hang out for a bit. 

The nursing staff is really great. 

Speaking of which, Bella's primary nurse, Morgan, is leaving the hospital (today, actually) for new opportunities and a new life with her new husband.  She will be truly missed.  She was always very sweet, even when we were a pain in the butt, and she took such great care of Bella.  She even got a beautiful blanket and booties for Ms. Bella, which we will cherish, and someday tell our daughter what great care she had early on in life.  We wish her nothing but the best with her new opportunities. 

Bella hates the Flash

 Sorry, the picture is blurry, new camera and we are still learning how to use it.  You'd figure that point-n-click would be idiot (charley) proof, but sadly, it isn't.

Bella is doing great right now, and if it weren't for one small thing, she would be on her way home with us.  Apparently, her sucking reflex sucks (not it a good way), meaning that it's a bit immature still.  As a result, she can't take all of her calories from a bottle yet.   She's quite fussy and doesn't much like the bottle, basically.  She gets wiped out halfway through, and it takes the better part of a half hour just to get her to take an ounce.

Since we really can't take her home on a feeding tube, she has to stay till she can finish her bottle each feeding.  Interestingly, she is now the heaviest of the three babies, by half an ounce.  She's just over 6lbs 60z, where Noah is just under. 

Which opens up an opportunity for Mr. Owen.  He had a terrific week.  On a whim, Nurse Mary (who is also totally awesome) decided to see if he would take a few ounces from the bottle on Sunday.  She didn't think he'd really want it, after not having a bottle for over a month.  Turns out he took an ounce in about ten minutes flat. 

By the following day, he was bottling every feed, and he's even taken to breast feeding quite well (no, I didn't try to breast feed him.  No comments on my Manboobs).  If he can get up to two ounces at every feeding and doesn't have any more complications with his liver, he may come home first.  He's now at 5lbs 13oz

 Noah is starting bottle  feeds now too, at about 13cc's every three hours.  It's not much, but it's a start and he's doing quite well with it.   He was on the ventilator two days ago until he decided to extubate himself and break the ventilator tube.  So they decided to leave it out, since he felt so strongly about it, and he's been doing quite well.  He had ballooned up to 6lbs 11oz but they had to give him some diuretics to get rid of the puffiness and as of last night, he was hovering at 6lbs 6oz, as I said above. 

His issue is that he'll still need the hernia surgery before he goes home.  And he still has the pocket internally coming off his stomach from how the operation healed.  We don't know if they will try to fix that or not. 

And Owen hates Baths...just like Daddy

They're getting so big, and we know we have to be close soon, maybe a few weeks on one of the babies.  It's very exciting and scary at the same time.  Anyway, thank you everyone for your kind thoughts and prayers.  We appreciate all of it. 

Warm Regards,

- Charley